Une vie simple

I seriously do not know why it took this movie so long to be in the cinemas. It is one of the defining works of the year and essentially a simple movie about simple and unexplored characters of Hong Kong people. Ms Ann Hui is truly at her very best once again. After winning awards for The Way We Were, Hui strikes the cord to the highest potential by casting Andy Lau and former box office queen of 80s Deanie Ip whose chemistry dates back to almost 23 years old in their last corroboration. It is truly a delight to sit through a movie like this and while this being one Hui's most accepted work to the general public; she never strays away from her principles and values. At its core, it is a film about human interactions, feelings, relationships and old age. One day, we will die and old age is a burning topic for the baby boomer's generation.

Deanie Ip puts in a career defining performance and as she puts it, acting as an old lady is not difficult at all, as she is just playing herself. The manner she manages to make the audience enjoy her character the Chinese servant of Hong Kong family for 3 generations is impressive to say the least. Life is never easy and sometimes, we just tend to forget those people who work their life within behind the scene, with heart, soul and pure dedication. These are people who gave up on having a family of their own and instead spend their whole life raising other people's families. Nowadays, the loyalty and the servant and master relationships are a lot more different. As mentioned before, Ip's characters work so well because there is an underlying chemistry between Andy Lau and her. Lau puts in an underrated performance that doesn't allow him to overshadow the main character. It is a compliment that it is because of the understated manner Lau manages to approach his character that allows Deanie Ip's the spotlight and attention.

A Simple Life has already won a lot of awards and not to mention plenty of admiration from a new league of fans young and old. Hui has been around a long time and has never strayed from the commercialism of Hong Kong cinema. To finally witness an Ann Hui film making splash at the box office is really as a good a feeling as watching a fine piece of cinema. In many ways this is a true and realistic look at simple aspects of life, characters and old age. It is this simplistic that makes Hui's films so different, enjoyable and ultimately touching. All in all, A Simple Life is a Hong Kong movie and more importantly a movie that takes us along the ride, respects those around us and allows the audience to reflect upon their own lives. Movies like these only comes along once in a generation and while this may not be Hui's best work, but in terms of balancing the needs of the Hong Kong people and her own vision, it is certainly the most accessible of her works. A fine piece of cinematic experience…

Neo rates it 9/10

• www.thehkneo.com

Ah Tao has been working for Roger's family for 4 generations and more than sixty years. Everyone but Roger lives now in America, and Ah Tao takes care of Roger as he was still a little child. But then she has a stroke and can't work anymore. Ah Tao, seeing that she's already 70 years old, asks Roger to find her a nursing home. But he decides not to forget about her, and visits her as much as possible.

"A Simple Life" is a very good film, with great acting and a very touching story. It is all a little bit too beautiful (rich guy decides to give his time to old sick maid) as we almost don't see any tension between the characters (except the guy that asks for money constantly and Anthony Wong's shady character). The worst we see is Ah Tao telling Roger to use a tablecloth or checking if there's dust in the flat now that she's not cleaning it. And it goes for the tear once or twice. But everyone, from the writers to director Ann Hui, to the actors, do a great job to make us invest in the story and care about all involved. Andy Lau (from "Infernal Affairs" fame) does a great job as the film producer, going from joyful to subdued to caring, but this is Deannie Yip's show and she is amazing.

The movie also has lots of famous faces from Hong Kong film industry, so a fan can have some fun recognizing Chapman To or Sammo Hung.

The story is simple (it is there in the title) but simple doesn't mean worthless or boring. Simple can be great. Like here.

This is a simple film - two main characters with no blood relation and yet deeply connected to each other - and presumably made with a modest budget. It is slow, and arguably a tad long (but I am OK with it), but as the story evolves I begin to care about them.

As a film it is a great antidote to the sex, violence, intriguing plots, and CGI (I must admit I like some of those too) that we are so used to on the big screen these days. Director Ann Hui indicated the story was inspired by true events and I believe her. What makes this story unique is we are looking at love, respect and a feeling of duty and obligation between two human beings as if they were mother and son - but they are not. Instead, what started out as a servant-master relationship transcended itself to become something more sublime when the care-giver became incapacitated and the table was turned. When this happened the roles were reversed and yet it happened in such an unforced, natural and leisurely fashion.

There are tear-jerking moments, of course, but they came in such an unpretentious manner. The ending is as you would expect when age and illness took their toll on Tao Jie, played by Deannie Yip. And yet, I finished watching the film feeling uplifted, and with a strong sense of hope on humanity.

Ah Tao, an old maid in Hong Kong who have served Roger's family for four generations suffering stroke that make her deciding to retire and move into old people's place. She recover her stroke there, learns many thing and also is treated well. Every once a week, her master Roger visits her and accompanies her to take a walk. Sometimes, Roger's mom also comes to visit Ah Tao and bring her many useful things. Roger's family really love Ah Tao and feel thankful after what she has done for them about 60 years long by taking care of their family.

'A Simple Life' have shown that a simple story could give good impression and enjoyable to watch. The storyline is not complicated at all, the movie goes on slowly and very detail. Ann Hui as a director tries to make it safe and straight without any meaningful conflicts which sometimes could make audience feels bored watching it. The relationship between Roger and Ah Tao built really well, it shows how they support and take care one another even sometimes telling jokes. Credits should be given to Andy Lau and Deannie Yip, their acting is so natural as two characters who has known each other for a long time. Overall, 'A Simple Life' is a memorable Chinese movie I've seen recently. Actually I felt exhausted during watching 'A Simple Life' because of it's slow plot but when I rewind what I just saw, the movie isn't bad at all and has so much lesson to be learned from it. It teaches audience to respect and appreciate people who has done good things in lives and not forgetting their merit.

'A simple life' is a film about human kindness. About caring for others. About harmonious human relationships. Does this sound cheesy? It's not meant that way. The film shows how caring for one another can make a difference, but it's never sentimental and there's no tear jerking at all.

The story centres around A Tao, a housekeeper who cooks and cleans for film producer Roger, who is not married and travels a lot. When returning home from one of his travels from Hong Kong to mainland China, A Tao doesn't open the door. She has had a stroke and after her stay in the hospital, she moves to an old people's home. Roger visits her regularly and gradually they become closer. At the start of the movie they are employer and employee, at the end they are friends.

Director Ann Hui shows this process with small, symbolic scenes. When A Tao serves Roger his food in one of the first scenes, only one word is spoken, when she asks him to move something on the table to make room for the dish she has prepared. The contrast with another key scene, later on in the movie, is huge. After A Tao has recovered from the stroke, Roger takes her to the first screening of his new film and introduces her to movie stars as his godmother. Afterwards, they walk away hand in hand, chattering affectionately about the film business.

A Tao visibly enjoys this party, and the attention she receives from her 'godson'. This is just one of the examples of the wonderful acting by Deannie Yip, a famous actress in the Hong Kong film industry but unknown to the rest of the world. In this film, she seemingly effortlessly plays A Tao first as a humble servant, then as a physically handicapped patient and also as a coquettish lady. How wonderful it must have been for her to receive a 'best actress'-award at the Venice Film Festival for her part as A Tao.

The film focuses on the relationship between Roger and A Tao, and the development of their mutual appreciation. Apart from that, not much really happens. There are some humorous little scenes that will make you smile, as well as some more emotional ones. This is a slow and low-profile film, to be appreciated by a typical art-house audience.